Fans can pretty much bet that he’ll walk down his opponent and throw punches until he buckles under the pressure. That’s real fighting, the way he sees it, and though the variables may change inside the cage, his approach is the same.

Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is next in line to accept the Diaz (26-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) challenge. Will he be able withstand the onslaught?

The two meet in the main event of UFC 143, which takes place Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Main-card action airs live on pay-per-view while preliminary-card fights air on FX and stream on Facebook.

Diaz originally was scheduled to meet Georges St-Pierre at the Super Bowl weekend event. But a knee injury took the long-reigning champ out of action, and the UFC subsequently slotted Condit in his place while putting an interim title up for grabs.

The main thing standing between Condit and a face full of fists is his legs. Kicks are one of the most prevalent tools in his arsenal. Because he’s lanky, he can use them to keep space, set up his punches, and distract opponents. Diaz will have to wade through these to be effective.

The bad news for Condit is that Diaz has done just that many times with others.

Condit can get sneaky with spinning backfists and flying knees; he dropped Dong Hyun Kim with the latter in his most recent performance. He throws strong knees in the clinch and is decent fighting backward. But he has to get a chance to reset, and he may not get too much time to do that with Diaz in his face for 25 minutes.

Unless he gets caught with one of Condit’s flashy strikes, Diaz is unlikely to try to get the takedown and grind out things. He’ll face constant submission threats from the former WEC champ, and he likely won’t be able to advance position before an escape.

One of Condit’s best hopes is to catch Diaz in a transition between strikes and takedowns, and maneuver either to the back or top position. He often uses a kimura to get around an opponent’s torso or drops first to the mat while using a body lock to torque his way to top position. On paper, he’s a better straight-takedown artist, as well. If he can surprise Diaz enough to force a mistake on the ground, or use his elbows to open up cuts, he could earn a submission or a TKO stoppage on the mat.

That’s a big if, seeing as Diaz holds black-belt-level jiu-jitsu and can more than hold his own in escaping danger on the mat. In that way, they’re similar. Both are seasoned submission artists with serviceable wrestling. But they do the bulk of their work on the feet.

There, Condit sets, resets, and assembles combinations in a measured way. Diaz presses and presses, starting with a series of jabs that is followed with a loopy right and a left to the body, crisscrossing the center line in an endless flow of punches until an opponent gets so battered that he can’t fight normally.

If Condit slugs it out, he’ll be sticking and moving and delivering straight rights all night to the southpaw Diaz. He’ll be down on the punch count – Diaz always throws at least two strikes to his opponent’s one – but he’s not fighting an opponent who can’t be dropped. Paul Daley showed us that, and long ago, Takanori Gomi did too.

For his supreme durability and talent in making others fight his fight, Diaz is the solid favorite in sportsbooks with about a 65 percent chance of winning. With all the attention he’s garnered for his in- and out-of-the cage antics, a big-money bout with St-Pierre looms in the horizon. Condit, however, is hoping to spoil that party.

Werdum returns, Pierce gets grudge match

In other main-card action, Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) returns to the UFC for the first time in more than three years when he meets fellow heavyweight Roy Nelson (16-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC). Having rebounded from a two-fight skid with a TKO over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Nelson remains one of the strongest competitors in the heavyweight division. But a loss to Werdum could further push back a quest for the heavyweight title. For Werdum, who went 3-1 in Strikeforce after his release in 2008 from the UFC, it’s a chance to jump to a high perch in the big-man class.

Also, Josh Koscheck (16-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) puts off a long-planned trip to middleweight to put down an uprising in the welterweight class. After Mike Pierce (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) called him out on MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio), Koscheck accepted the fight. Koscheck holds a huge advantage in experience in the fight, and though more decorated than Pierce in wrestling credentials, he’s likely to strike with Pierce unless he gets tagged on his feet.

Additionally, bantamweight Renan Barao (27-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) puts an almost unbroken seven-year win streak on the line when he meets onetime WEC title challenger Scott Jorgensen (13-4 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who like him enjoys a two-fight win streak in the UFC. Jorgensen has said he plans to acquaint Barao with his wrestling skills. Barao, meanwhile, is likely to try to keep things on the feet.

In the PPV opener, middleweight Ed Herman (19-7 MMA, 6-5 UFC) hopes to make it three in a row after stoppage wins over Tim Credeur and Kyle Noke when he meets Clifford Starks (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who’s undefeated in his brief career and earned a decision win over Dustin Jacoby in his octagon debut this past October.

Ronda Rousey’s statistical greatness has already ventured into uncharted territory – just six fights into her UFC career. Check out all the post-fight facts, including Rousey’s latest achievements, about UFC 190.